This invention relates to an article delivery system for arranging paper sheets and box-like or cubic articles in the order of delivery in accordance with sorting information provided thereon, or for providing the delivery order so as to help the delivery operation.
One example of apparatuses for handling a plurality of kinds of articles each having sorting information and for arranging these articles in the order of delivery is a paper sheet and the like delivery route structuring apparatus disclosed in JP-A-7-185471. This paper sheet and the like delivery route structuring apparatus comprises a first memory portion for storing delivery points of first paper sheets and the like, a second memory portion for storing delivery points of second paper sheets and the like, and identification unit inserting means for inserting identification units, corresponding to the respective second paper sheets and the like, in relevant positions at the arranged first paper sheets and the like.
In the actual delivering operation, a plurality of kinds of articles are delivered at the same time. For example, in a mail processing service, regular-shape letters, irregular-shape letters and special letters (such as registered mail) are brought out at the same time, and are delivered. In a delivering operation, such as a door-to-door courier service by a courier service company, parcels and letters are delivered at the same time.
However, if an amount of articles, which one sorting device can handle, is limited, or there are limitations on the delivery management, the articles cannot be physically arranged in one delivery order. Therefore, the delivery order for each kind of articles must be found, and in the prior art technique, this is not taken into consideration.
In the prior art technique, identification units for the other articles are inserted in main articles. However, when the proportion of the other articles is high, the number of the identification units, similar in shape to the main article, is increased, and this is not desirable because the amount of articles increases.
And besides, the arrangement of the articles cannot be effected until all of the articles are collected. The other hand, when the arrangement of the articles is started after all of the article are collected, a long time is required, and this results in a problem that the delivery is delayed. Therefore, it has been required that each time the articles are collected in a certain amount, the arrangement should be effected. However, in this case, a plurality of arrangement rows of articles are formed, and the burden on the operator increases at the time of delivery.
Furthermore, in the prior art technique, that kind of articles, larger in amount than the other articles, are arranged, and the order of delivery of the other articles is determined on the basis of the larger amount articles. However, the delivery order, formed on the basis of one kind of articles, is often different from the delivery order formed on the basis of all of the articles, and the proper delivery order could not always be obtained.